A Woman's Design Doula Group Minneapolis | St. Paul Doula & Childbirth Education Services
​Contact & Follow A Woman's Design:
info@awomansdesign.com
(612) 314-6378

 

​ 
  • Home
    • About
    • Contact Us >
      • Work With Us
      • Business Partnership Program
      • Giving Back
  • Services
    • FAQ's >
      • What is a Doula? >
        • You May Want A Doula If...?
      • Why Doula Teams
    • Birth Doula Services >
      • On-Call Birth Support
      • Planned Cesarean Birth Support
    • Massage
    • Lactation Support
    • Placenta Encapsulation >
      • Placenta Encapsulation Intake Form
      • Placenta Encapsulation Feedback Survey
    • Postpartum Doula Services
    • Pregnancy & Birth Consultation >
      • Birth Consultation Package
    • Private Education >
      • Re-discovering Childbirth Refresher
  • Client & Student Resources
    • AWD Member Forum
    • Baby-Friendly Hospitals
    • Resources
  • Blog
  • Store

Free your journey

1/13/2016

0 Comments

 
​“A day will come when the story inside you will want to breath on its own. That's when you’ll start writing.” -Sarah Noffke
Truthfully it's been two and half years since the birth of my daughter and  i’m just writing my birth story down. It's been a long time coming but i've needed to ponder and reacquaint myself with my story and find peace in it all. My journey to birth has had time to breath and I now can cheerfully release my fears and be at peace. I remember so well the moment the doctor laid our sweet daughter on my chest. My body was tired, my cheeks red and stinging from the heat, my heart racing, my smile filled with bliss, my eyes weary longing for a moment of rest. At last, through the sheer fear, sudden change and pain of birth, she was here. She was right here in front of me with her perfect fuzzy ducky hair, one eye open the other softly shut, looking deeply into my eyes; her tiny body in need of comfort, touch, and a soothing voice telling her, “I love you. I’m right here.  Everything’s okay, baby.”

My husband and I had planned a home birth for our birth plan and worked with two midwives through my whole pregnancy. Every checkup was sweeter than the last when we visited our midwives. On any given checkup, you would walk in to find one sipping on hot tea while the other was knitting the most precious baby hats you ever did see. Their home was always welcoming and the smells are nostalgic to me still to this day. Their inviting presence made us feel seen and heard by them in an undeniable way. I knew that they were passionate about their work.  The sparkle in their eyes was every bit as comforting as my husband stroking my hair or giving me a warm hug. We felt at home, and we were. As my pregnancy progressed, I was in and out of the hospital at twenty-four weeks as well as twenty-eight weeks. I experienced long and hard contractions as if labor was coming, but nothing ever happened beyond that. My baby was eager to make an entrance into the world and I kind of had a feeling too (mama instincts).  We continued to see our midwives in hopes we could make it to the thirty-eight week mark, but that didn't happen.

My water broke on a cold and blustery Wednesday night, just shy of thirty-eight weeks. I panicked I thought I still had at least four weeks to go...to prepare, to nest. I didn't want to believe things were going to go differently than we had planned. When I heard the words, “I'm sorry my sweet Sophia, we need to go to the hospital” my heart dropped.  Fear and anxiety gripped my muscles, and tears flooded my lap. This wasn't what we planned for, so now what would it look like?

Picture
You see, I didn't know that everything would be okay.  I was scared, I was tired, and I was not in my home. I let fear and anxiety rattle my thoughts and harden my muscles. As they transferred me to my birthing room, it felt large and cold. I didn’t know any of the doctors or nurses, but all I could do was trust that this was exactly where I was supposed to be. Little did I know that the doctors would be so gentle and understanding. They took the time to make my room feel how I had anticipated my home to feel. They spoke softly and surely to me, comforting my fears with every passing moment. You see, it’s so easy in motherhood to place expectations on how our birth might look like, what our children will take interests in, how we will parent, and what approach we will take with the many decisions we make as parents. It's easy to let fear lead our hearts in motherhood instead of peace. I have learned a lot from my birth.  It did not go the way I planned….pitocin, epidural, twenty four hours of labor, three hours of pushing to no avail, and extra unexpected time in the hospital with our sweet preemie. It was long and grueling, and at some points I wanted to give up and be done. But I learned that day what my body is capable of. I learned how expectations placed on ourselves or our children only produce failure and insecurity, robbing us of our joy and and peace we have been given since the beginning of time.

Picture

During the days at the hospital leading up to my birth, you could find my midwives sleeping on the ground on a sleeping bag, spending every waking moment beside me, comforting me, encouraging me, and making my room feel like a home. They supported me, and walked me through the doctor's’ questions and concerns. They helped me see past my fear and expectations to understand that a healthy baby was the goal. Whatever your journey to your miracle might look like, whether that's adoption, foster care, cesarean, home birth, etc., know that you are right where you need to be. I like to think that the universe and a higher being orchestrates our life and journeys to motherhood in a truly unique way, teaching us many lessons if we will stop and truly feel the way we were meant to feel.

Picture
My birthing experience made me think that we need people in our lives in any stage of motherhood to help us, to encourage who we are as mothers, and to cheer us on to victory. We need that “village”, that “sisterhood” to surround us with open arms and open hearts to bear one another’s burdens and help lighten the load. Sometimes it's hard to ask and accept help, but people genuinely want to help and encourage. Surround yourself with people that love you and make you feel like motherhood is working for you, not against you. At the same time, intentionally reach out to new mothers and friends in need once you've got a couple months under your belt. A simple meal or phone call goes a long way in helping a loved one feel supported in the crazy, messy, beautiful state of motherhood. We all have different journeys. Some may go the way we plan and some may not.  When we give up control and offer up our hands to the higher being, we find peace and contentment on our  journey to birth or the first day of preschool, however that may unfold. Our children come out of us, but they are not of us. They have their own path and their own passions to share with this world.


Picture
My name is Sophia Johnson, I am a wife and a mother to our sweet daughter Beatrice. Join me in my journey of cultivating motherhood through a hands free/gentle parenting approach. My hope is to inspire deep growth, honesty, vulnerability, and a sense of community in our ever changing days as mothers. I am passionate about letting our little ones feel capable and strong in their daily lives, for one day the tiny mundane tasks, and hobbies that we include them in will be remembered as pure joy and the feeling of being trusted by another will inspire their true identity and uniqueness in this life. Here I write about my hardships and joys of being a mother and all my daughter has taught me along the way about myself and who I want to be. I share the joy of letting go of control and freeing ourselves to see our children as their very own "unique beings" set apart from our expectations as parents and insecurities we face on a daily basis. It wasn't until I had a child that I found myself all over again, in a truly unique and refreshing way. Let us cultivate the greatest gift of "Motherhood " however that journey unfolds for each of us.

My direct blog is: 
cultivatingmotherhood.wordpress.com
Instagram : @cultivatemotherhood &  @cultivate_wellness

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    A Woman's Design

    A Woman's Design Doula & Childbirth Educators are here to walk along side you during such a precious time. Whether it is your first journey or tenth, empowering women and families with education and support to trust their inner wisdom and make wise choices in pregnancy, birth and early parenting is the heart of A Woman's Design. 

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    April 2020
    May 2018
    September 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    August 2011
    July 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    August 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    January 2010

    Tweets by @womansdesign
    View my profile on LinkedIn

    My Blog List

    Unnecesarean: The Blog

    Doula Ambitions

    Birth Sense

    Categories

    All
    365 Days Of Blessings
    6 Month
    Abuse
    Assistance
    Assistant
    A Womans Design
    Babies
    Baby
    Babywearing
    Back-up
    Birth
    Birth Assistant
    Birthday
    Birth Doula
    Birth Plan
    Birth Stories
    Birth Story
    Blessing
    Breastfeeding
    Bright Side
    Care
    Certification
    Challenge
    Changes
    Child Abuse
    Childbirth
    Child Birth
    Childbirth Classes
    Childbirth Collective
    Children
    Choices
    Clients
    Comfort Measures
    Community
    C Section
    C-section
    Cserean
    Dads
    Death
    Delivery
    Dental Care
    Doula
    Expo
    Family
    Father
    Fathers
    Fear
    Friend
    Gestational Diabetes
    Give Away
    Goals
    Grandparents
    Grief
    Healthy Birth
    Helper
    Holidays
    Hope
    Hospitals
    Husband
    Hygiene
    Hyperemesis
    Induction
    Indution
    Infant
    Influence
    Intervention
    Knowledge
    Labor
    Loss
    Love
    Maternal
    Maternity
    Medication
    Miscarriage
    Misconceptions
    Mortality
    Morthers
    Mother
    Motherhood
    Mother In Law
    Mothers And Daughter
    Mothers Day
    Natural
    Naturally
    Networking
    Newborn
    Newsletter
    New Years Resolution
    Outlook
    Positive
    Positivity
    Post Partum Doula
    Postpartum Doula
    Postpartum Support
    Preconception
    Pregnancy
    Pregnancy Stories
    Pregnant
    Preparation
    Reducing
    Referrals
    Service Providers
    Sibling Rivalry
    Support
    Survivor
    Teeth
    Vbac
    Video
    Women
    Your Way

    RSS Feed

About us
​
​Employment
Founder
Meet Your Doulas
Blog
Services:
Birth Doula
Postpartum Doula
Lactation Support
Placenta Encapsulation
Store
Contact A Woman's Design:
info@awomansdesign.com
(612) 314-6378
Specializing In
Attachment Parenting | Babywearing | Birth Bootcamp | Bottle Feeding | Bradley Method | Breastfeeding | Cesareans Section (Family-Centered/Planned/Repeat) | Cloth Diapering | Epidural Birth | Home Birth | Hospital Birth | Hypnobabies | Induction | Lamaze | Multiples | Natural Birth | Spinning Babies |Vaginal birth Assisted by Medication | VBAC | Water Birth | Birth Doula | Postpartum Doula | Lactaction Support | Prenatal Education | Childbirth Education | Placenta Encapsulation |
Lamaze International, Childbirth International, DONA International
Picture
Providing Professional Doula Services to Families in the Twin Cities, Minnesota

Minneapolis - St Paul
Anoka | Hennepin  | Carver | Chisago | Dakota | Ramsey | Washington    

​At the heart & soul of A Woman's Design is the belief that every mother has the inner wisdom to make the best choices for herself and her baby in pregnancy, childbirth and early parenting. 
This is your story and we are your supporting cast. Birth. Your Way. 

Copyright © 2012-2018, Natalia Hals. All rights reserved.